1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a license management system performing a management process of a license (license agreement) of software programs such as application programs, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a license management program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a computer network system including a license management computer and application program execution computers, a license management process for application programs is performed according to the following method.
Specifically, the license management computer holds license information on the application programs and a license matching program. The license information includes: 1. identification information on an application program; 2. identification information on a licensee or identification information on an application program execution computer used by the licensee; and 3. the number of users permitted to use the application program. The license matching program is a program which matches the license information in response to an inquiry from the application program execution computer.
On the other hand, the application program execution computer holds an application program. The application program includes an application program main module, and an inquiry program. The inquiry program is a program which inquires the license management program about presence or absence of a license of the application program.
When a user (licensee) operates the application program execution computer thereby instructing execution of the application program, the application program execution computer calls the application program, and inquires, according to the inquiry program, the license management computer about the presence or absence of a license of the application program. On this occasion, the identification information on the application program, the identification information on the licensee, and the like are transmitted from the application program execution computer to the license management computer. Then, the license management computer matches, according to the license matching program, the identification information on the application program, the identification information on the licensee, and the like, which have been transmitted from the application program execution computer, with the license information held by the license management computer. As a result, the presence or absence of a license of the application program held by the application program execution computer is determined. When a license of the application program is present, the license management computer notifies the application program execution computer of the presence, and, in response to the notification, execution of the application program main module starts on the application program execution computer. On the other hand, when a license of the application program is absent, the license management computer notifies the application program execution computer of the absence, and, in response to the notification, execution of the application program main module is rejected on the application program execution computer.
Moreover, as the license management process for application programs, a license management computer distributes license information to application program execution computers in advance, and the application program execution computer, upon execution of an application program, matches the license information (refer to Patent Document 2 for more detail). According to this process, the application programs held by the application program execution computer include an application program main module, and a license matching program. Then, when a user (licensee) operates the application program execution computer thereby instructing execution of the application program, the application program execution computer calls the application program, matches license information according to the license matching program, and, only when a license is present, starts execution of the application program main module.